DIL…DOSTI….YAARI

A few days ago, on a little prod by one of my “Bestest Friends”, I put up a post on my facebook wall which went as follows - "Friends are the family we choose for ourselves". Following this, during all the lonely time that I now have at my disposal, I went on a ride down memory lane. The ride brought back an unrestrained flow of priceless memories of the times that I have spent with my extended family of friends. And then it struck me……I have used “My Cognitions” to put across my thoughts on various things…….why not add one to this list which goes out to all my buddies?

The list is endless……..so many moments that I would like to put down……

Let me start with the friends I had made in school……….one of my closest friends starting from those days of carefree abandon till today is Mona…….she has been and will always be special to me. I can’t forget those long walks we used to take, sometimes all the way from Police Bazaar to Laitumkhrah (those of you who know Shillong, might agree that it certainly isn’t a short distance), talking about almost anything in this world. Then there were those visits to the church near Don Bosco Square. We had and still have a lot in common, the best being our love for animals. I remember, how the two of us would make plans of following in the footsteps of Maneka Gandhi and starting something to help the strays lead a better life. I still hope, that one day we can come together and turn this childhood dream into a reality.

School was also the time when I was a crazy fan of the Little Master, none other than Sachin Tendulkar. My partner in this madness was Paromita DebRoy…….Paro if you happen to read this, am sure you remember the times we had. I must admit though, that I am still one of the greatest fans of this extra ordinary talent and I bet Paro feels the same. And then there was this brief but extreme obsession that we shared about the scene from Dil to Pagal Hai in which the Badshah of Bollywood allured the lady of his dreams with the double worded o – so – romantic dialogue “Aur paas aur paas…….” J.

Many more from the school days could probably add on to this sequence of memoirs and each one is equally important to me, but keeping in mind the concepts of time and space let me move on to the next phase. That would be the days from the 10 +2 years. Mona continued to be one of my closest buddies through this period as well. Lopa, was added to my self-chosen family of friends. We spent some absolutely fun – filled moments during the tuitions that we took with my favourite teacher till date, T.S. Sir. Also worth mentioning are those frequent visits to the “Chaat House” that we simply loved on our way back home.

Then came the time to move away from home………for the first time, to experience what was called - the hostel life, and one which I certainly didn’t have a very good impression about. And the initial days most definitely lived up to that very conjecture. However, with time it was this very hostel life that I came to associate with the best days of my life…….so much so, that I still miss it terribly. What made it great positively wasn’t the place……one look at it and you would probably agree that it really wasn’t. Then what was it? But obviously, the people……the friends…….a few more members added to my chosen family. Enter…..Anjori Dutta, Anjali Thakur, Lakshmi Prabha and Piyali Sinha. Together, we had some of the most rollicking times of our life. Just the other day I was talking to Anjori, and as we were reminiscing the boisterous times we had, she happened to mention a particular episode where we had a gala time in sort of adam – teasing a few boys who had come down to take a stroll in front of the girls’ hostel after dinner. The poor guys never figured out who were the ones turning the tables on them….thanks to the cover of the boundary walls on the terrace and the comic façade of voices we used in the process. Anjori let out a strain of “Babuji zara dheere chalo” in a playback perfect voice for a witch J while Anjali and Piyali were showering the funniest dialogues they could think of on the victims.

I remember another outrageous incident during one of our trips to the hottest eatery known to us in those days…...Aashiq ka Dhaba. We planned to go for an early dinner….so there we were at the “Corner” (which was the place from where the transport to and from our abode for four years was available) waiting to get into an auto. We decided to fit into one, and instead of going for the lap as the extra seat for the additional two, we decided to take the front seat on both sides of the driver. You bet, the driver must have been a happy soul as that was a seat meant only for the boys to take. As the three great minds, Anjali, Piyali and Prabha took the back seat, it was on me and Anjori to adorn the seats beside the driver. We started off, and while the two of us couldn’t stop smiling at the driver blushing to the limits of infinity….the three at the back seat, made it even better with their constant jibes at us. No sooner did one of the three give an example of “Do Phool Ek Mali” and the driver who was so long trying to contain his expressions to a few shy smiles, could no longer help it but break out into a laugh. God…….I don’t know what it was if not crazy.

I don’t think I could miss out the charge that the girls’ hostel as a whole had made on the annual crowd of Diwali visitors who would come to trouble and frighten us by hurling in firecrackers over the walls of the girls’ hostel shattering window panes, and damaging things inside the rooms next to the walls. We decided, it was enough and went for the chase, and we did get a handful of the culprits much to our delight.

I could go and on with so many more of such memorable incidents……..it truly is an endless inventory of priceless moments.

Friends truly are a family we choose for ourselves……..and all I want to end this with is a big thank you to all my mates for being part of this special family of mine and giving me this invaluable treasure trove of fun-filled moments that I will cherish for my entire life.

Love You All……J

P.S.: This piece is dedicated to all my friends and not just the ones whose names I have mentioned here.